King Solomon's Mines (1950)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger

Honors:
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Color)
Academy Award for Best Editing

Take a trip of adventure to the deepest, darkest unknowns of Africa on a quest that could lead to a fabled mine of unimaginable riches. Based on the 1885 novel that perhaps initiated the modem romanization of globe traveling adventures, MGM delivers a motion picture with stunning Technicolor images of the African continent that were seldom seen by western audiences. From grand vistas with its array of fauna and wildlife to legends of the past, the picture promised viewers intrigue and excitement from lesser explored regions on the other side of the globe. In its own way it is the granddaddy of adventure films to come, while in other ways it is a vast let down for viewers of later generations. In the end it was MGM’s greatest box office draw of 1950 that happened to pay dividends in more ways than its initial theatrical release.

 

King Solomon’s Mines is an adventure thriller about a quest within the uncharted territories of Africa to recover a lost expedition in search of a legendary horde of riches. Experienced African hunter Allan Quartermain (Stewart Granger) is approached by Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr) and her brother John (Richard Carlson) to lead a quest into the unexplored African regions in search of her missing husband who sought for the fabled lost mines of King Solomon. Despite his reluctance Quartermain takes on the mission with evidence of a map that could reveal where he may be. The expedition encounters numerous escapades as they delve into the uncharted territories, encountering stampeding wildlife, meeting a tall mysterious native named Umbopa who joins the party as a guide, and another confronting a white explorer that threatens them. However, what they discover most is a budding romance between Quartermain and Elizabeth. Finally arriving at their destination, they encounter a hostile native tribe, revealed to be Umbopa’s people, where our heroes are locked into the mines to discover the skeletal remains of Elizabeth’s husband alongside the vast jewels. However, they are able to find a way out and witness Umbopa confronting the tribal leaders, revealing he is their rightful king. The climax is a tribal duel that Umbopa wins over the dangerous leader which helps allow safe passage home for his friends, Quartermain and party.

 

For the time of its release the film provided a wonderful look within Africa with vivid color cinematography, capturing wildlife, beautiful vistas, and native cultures very foreign to western viewers. The story, however, can be a bit lacking. The adventure factor may have been notched up a bit with the very overseas visuals in exceptional clarity, but looking back the plot is rather weak. Like most problems that challenged the world then racial appropriation of white men being superior to Africans is very present in the picture as the native peoples are either servants, savages, or of lesser inelegance even with the Umbopa character being presented as friendly and royal in the end. When compared to other prior adventure features whether its Trader Horn (1931), King Kong (1933), or a Tarzan picture King Solomon’s Mines simply lacks an energy that made the others exciting.

 

Based on the 1885 Sir H. Rider Haggard novel, MGM had to purchase the film rights from Gaumont-British, the production company that produced an adaptation back in 1937. Like the prior feature the story, considered one of the first in the genre of African adventures tales rooted in the Victorian age, was altered to make what was originally a man looking for his brother into one of a wife in search of her missing husband in order to add a female character and eventual love interest to the lead adventurer character, Allan Quartermain. This transforms what was strictly an all-male escapade into one that contains a love story, thus the possibility of appealing to a greater audience.

 

At the helm of filming was British born director Compton Bennett, best known for the low budgeted yet successful Seventh Veil (1945). Here King Solomon’s Mines was to be MGM’s big spectacle picture of 1950 filmed on location in Africa where a big budget backed the travel expenses of cast and crew, as well as high-quality film and cameras used to capture the wilds of the far-off land. The still rising British actress Deborah Kerr was cast as the leading lady with hopes of starring alongside of Errol Flynn. Flynn , however, turned down the role in favor of starring in another MGM adventure picture, Kim (1950), with legends claiming he preferred travel to a more civilized India over having to travel by caravan through Africa to filming locations. Looking for an opening in Hollywood British actor Stewart Granger was signed by to a contract by MGM to take on the hero role, an architype he would come to be known for in years to come.

 

Upon principal photography in Africa daily rushes were making it evident that Compton Bennett was not capturing the energy the story called for as use of the camera and direction of the actors were not producing the level excitement producers hoped for. After five months in Africa when the production moved back to United States MGM and producer Sam Zimbalist made the decision to dismiss Bennett with hoes to improve on the work he had provided them. Approving of second unit director Andrew Marton’s ability to deliver stunningly beautiful shots and handle the higher energy of the action scenes tasked to him and his unit in Africa, Marton was assigned to finish the picture as its new director, officially sharing credit with his predecessor. Further scenes were filmed in various locations throughout the Southwestern United States to simulate African landscape under Marton’s direction to ultimately deliver the final product we see today.

 

The performance of the cast is a bit all over the place throughout the picture. Deborah Kerr may not have been the best actress for an adventure feature as her subtle delivers are overshadowed by the rest of the higher energy production. For Granger this was his first project in America and would prove to be quite the mark that helped to guide the direction of his long career stateside. Richard Carlson, the film’s most prominent American casted actor as Elizabeth’s brother John Goode, is none too memorable since he was second fiddle to the forced love story between our leading characters. However, during production Carlson provided his accounts of production for the Saturday Evening Post in a series of articles about his time on set in Africa. The role of Umbopa, who was portrayed by Paul Robson in the 1937 version, here  was trimmed down as a character and portrayed by a local Kenyan named Siriaque, who was coached through his portion of the production process. It may not have made for a good acting performance, but an intriguing appearance for audiences of a man representing the land the film attempted to depict.

 

When King Solomon’s Mines premiered audiences were drawn in by the beauty and awe of the mysterious Africa continent projected on the screens. In exquisite colorful detail were the beasts and lands people were unfamiliar o9utside of the pages of a National Geographic. For most this was all that was needed to purchase a ticket as it proved to be the greatest box office draw for MGM in 1950. Critically the adventure of its plot was more split in reviews. For those lost in the visuals the film was stunning with excitement and action, but those that spent more studying plot found the picture flatter in the sense of story and lacking an overall excitement. Of course, this did not hurt the picture for the studio as it was a hit at theaters, second in grosses only to Paramount’s biblical epic Samson and Delilah. Ultimately the stunning visuals would help the picture win a pair of Academy Awards that year for cinematography and editing

 

The life of King Solomon’s Mines did not end after the film ran its course in theaters from 1950 through 1951. The high-quality shots of the African setting and its many creatures would be reused for years to come in many other pictures as various productions would purchase prints of the shots for use in other productions instead of traveling across the world themselves. This was part of the plan of partially filming in Africa as MGM continued to benefit from the recycling of the shots for years. One such picture happened to be an attempted sequel to King Solomon’s Mines retitled Watusi (1959), which was essentially a B-movie following the adventures of Quartermain and Elizabeth’s son, Harry.

 

In the years that followed King Solomon’s Mines would be remade both for film and television, but this remains the most remembered adaptation. Compton Bennett would eventually return to the UK to continue making pictures in his home land while Andrew Marton would continue work as a director and second unit director, focusing on visuals. His best work would still come in the form of second unit director that produced the stunning chariot race for Ben-Hur (1959), one of the most epic actions scenes in cinema. King Solomon’s Mines sadly is a forgettable picture, but in the correct context is an interesting study that quietly left its fingerprints on Hollywood for many years.